German MEP says Finance Minister Babiš faces conflict of interest

Czech Finance Minister Andrej Babiš faces a serious conflict of interest
which could put strain on the Czech Republic’s cooperation with the EU,
according to German MEP Ingeborg Grässle. The Christian Democrat European
deputy, who is in Prague to review the Czech Republic’s use of EU funds,
has also called on Czech lawmakers to investigate rampant abuse of EU
money.

Photo: Filip Jandourek
Ingeborg Grässle, a member of the European Parliament’s Committee on
Budgetary Control, told a news conference in Prague on Thursday that she
and her colleagues were seriously concerned by the conflict of interest
within the Czech government.

Ms Grässle, who came to the Czech Republic to check the country’s
auditing of EU funds, said companies owned by Andrej Babiš had received
2.6 million euros in EU grants. But in his role as finance minister, he
oversees the distribution of these funds in the Czech Republic. The
European deputy said this was an obvious conflict of interest which casts
doubts on the country’s auditing systems.

The German Christian Democrat also noted this could put strain on the
Czech Republic’s cooperation with the European Union, and suggested Mr
Babiš sell or transfer his business empire which includes food,
agricultural, chemical, and media firms.

In a reaction, Mr Babiš said he was responsible to his voters rather than
MEP Grässle, who he added, did not have accurate information. The finance
minister insisted his activities were not in breach of Czech legislation
addressing conflict of interest, and added he had no plans to give up any
of his companies.

The head of the European Parliament’s Committee on Budgetary Control,
German Social Democrat Jens Geier, later said Ms Grässle was expressing
her personal opinion rather than an official position of the committee.

MEP Grässle also questioned the Czech system of drawing EU funds which,
she said, allowed for massive fraud and abuse. She noted that auditors had
consistently failed to supervise EU-funded projects and that Czech
authorities had never attempted to investigate who benefited from the
flawed auditing system.
Ingeborg Grässle called on Czech lawmakers to set up a parliamentary
committee to investigate who benefited from fraud and corruption in the
distribution of EU funds. “I have been on this committee for 10 years,
and have done many reviews. But this is the first time I’ve felt the
system allowed such massive fraud,” MEP Grässle said.